While Pokemon Go may seem like a slowly deflating balloon, don’t give up. Even though there aren’t steps on the in-game tracker, it is far from useless. You just need to know how to read it.

The next time you’re out Pokemon hunting, open up your tracker. The Pokemon closest to you will be listed as first on the tracker. As you walk, away from the Pokemon, it will drop down on the list. It’s kind-of like playing “Hot or Cold” as a kid. As the Pokemon move up on the list you’re getting “hotter” and as they move down you’re getting “colder.”

Let’s look at this in terms of the old tracking system. The Pokemon that are lower down on the list are likely to be three footsteps away, the ones in the middle are more likely to be two and those at the top are more likely to be one footstep away.

Someone told me this trick and I’ve been testing it out since the update. It seems to work great, as long as the servers are working well. Latency may throw off the tracker a bit at times.

Additionally, the tracker can let you know when to find new hunting spots. If you’re in a crappy spot, there won’t be many Pokemon on your tracker.

A word of warning: Do not tap on your tracker. This will rearrange the Pokemon and it will no longer show you accurate results.

Also note that the mini tracker that shows up when you are on the map is totally inaccurate. You have to open the tracker to get good results.